


A Party Song (The Walk of Shame)

by antiviancrows



Series: experimentum facio [3]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Citadel DLC, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-29 00:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3875140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antiviancrows/pseuds/antiviancrows





	A Party Song (The Walk of Shame)

After the human's betrayal, Admiral Hackett ordered them into shore leave. Commander Shepard kept putting the leave off. "Soon," she promised her crew. She met with Miranda, saved the geth and the quarians on Rannoch, helped another Spectre and found Kasumi. She had a run-in with Zaeed, and one with Conrad Verner. Finally, she relented, and put the Normandy into a temporary dry-dock for repairs and retrofits. Amadl could see her exhaustion. She was wearing thin with the weight of the galaxy upon her. He did his best to lighten her load. "Aw, he got an autograph. Why don't you give me one somewhere special?" he'd remarked when she found Conrad. "Imagine the things I could do to do while invisible, Shepard," he'd said whenever he saw Kasumi's cloaking act. "I could put something besides a bullet in you," he'd whispered to her in response to finding out how Zaeed got the scar on his face. She'd give him tired smiles and half-hearted replies. 

Then she got attacked when she'd gone out for dinner with Joker. He came over the comm, made a few more of his signature remarks, and then he was at the car lot when she finally limped through the door. He fired two more shots into a mercenary, and eyed her up and down. "Nice outfit. I think it'll look even better when I peel it off of you," he said. She'd given him a smirk and, "keep dreaming, asari." He'd teased her repeatedly about falling through the floor of the restaurant, and then the C-Sec car pulled up full of more mercenaries. She'd let out a sigh, reloaded her pistol, and readied her biotics. 

She had not expected Wrex to crash through a window above them and land on the car before bare-handedly killing the mercs in the car. He tossed her an overpowered geth weapon and she wrought havoc upon the mercs. Finally, Joker showed up in one of those sky cars. 

They went back to the apartment she'd newly acquired. Amadl took the opportunity to ask her which bed he wanted her to throw her on. "You make it sound so inviting," she'd teased, and then it was time to infiltrate the casino. She bought a new dress for the occasion. It was more revealing and tighter, if that were possible. "All to draw the attention to me," she'd said when she saw him looking. And she took him along with her. Obviously, he had to keep making his signature comments, and she'd return them. He had, however, cleaned up himself. He wore a tie and everything. She had joking asked him if it was strange having his chest covered, and he'd honestly admitted that he did. Then he'd teasingly told her it'd feel better if she covered it herself. 

Throughout the entire encounter business, she kept Amadl close. He took the opportunity to needle her as often as possible. Then the actual clone appeared. "And you, you shouldn't exist," the clone had sneered at him. "Neither should you. Although I get the feeling more people like me," he'd retorted. Then, before the clone could walk away, he'd dived and grabbed his pistol and shot the model of the Citadel above him. Everyone scattered and the resulting chase through the archives had been one of the craziest things he'd experienced. 

Then they'd been sealed inside the vault. She kept going on and on about how she sounded. Tali had repeatedly and worriedly attempted to bring Shepard's attention back to the impregnable vault they'd been sealed inside. Amadl suggested going out in a fun way. Shepard ignored them both until she called for Glyph and got them out of there. 

He had been the one to pull her up when she was hanging over the edge of the ship. He held her a second too long against him, assuring himself that she was safe and alive. He marveled at her when she turned to pull her clone back up, and marveled at the distress on her face. Then, she'd turned around and shot Brooks. He didn't understand that woman. 

The party was energetic. The music was loud, the drinks kept flowing, and everyone was drunk. He'd spotted Kasumi decloaking several times, had seen Tali nearly poison herself with cheese to change the subject, and, had seen James and Ashley getting a little too close in a dark corner. And then he'd cornered Shepard. 

Somehow, he woke up with her. "Either you were so bad that I can't remember, or you got me really drunk," he'd said, rolling over and burying his face in the pillow. "You had more drinks than I thought physically possible," Shepard had remarked, seeming remarkably cheerful for someone with a supposed hangover. "You should have stopped me," he said. "Oh, I tried. You told me to bite you, then changed your mind and told me to let you bite me because I'm 'probably into that,'" she answered, delighting in taunting him. He moaned into the pillow. "I take you don't remember dancing?" she said. "Goddess. What did I do?" he asks, rolling over to look at her, his arms thrown behind his head. His shirt was still on, still open. "Well, after you hit on Jack one too many times and she threatened to smear the walls with you, you decided it would be a good idea to dance on the counter. James and Ashley were intent on giving you credits as a joke because you reminded us so much of one of the asari strippers," she answered. He groaned. "Why didn't you stop me?" he asks. "Trust me, I tried. And look where it got me," she'd said, a teasing lilt to her tone to let him know she wasn't being serious. 

He reached up and pulled her down next to him. "How are you dressed with your hair and makeup fixed perfectly?" he asked. She nestled against his side and he wrapped one arm around her. "I didn't drink as much as you, and I was up an hour ago," she answered, grinning at him. "Of course. 'Cause you're the great Commander Shepard," he murmured. She leaned up to kiss his cheek. "Hell yeah, I am," she said, and he closed his eyes against the light and smiled.


End file.
